“Mike & Molly” star — appearing at Pala this coming weekend — talks about his comedic style, his inspiration and how fame hasn't changed him

Billy Gardell was done with L.A., on the verge of trekking back home to Pittsburgh.

But then, lightning struck.

“I auditioned for Chuck Lorre, and three days later, they said, ‘You’re the guy,’” Gardell said.

That guy is now half of one of TV’s most lovable couples, “Mike & Molly.” Gardell stars as Mike Biggs, a cop with a big waistline and a bigger heart who falls for sweetheart schoolteacher Molly, played by Melissa McCarthy of “Bridesmaids” fame, at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting.

Billy Gardell

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24

Where: Pala Casino Spa & Resort, 11154 Highway 76, Pala

Tickets: $37-$42 (attendees must be 21 or over)

Phone: (800) 585-3737

Online: palacasino.com

While making it to prime time was no cakewalk — “Even if you want to quit, you just lie to yourself” — the 43-year-old has no intentions of slowing down, stopping at Pala Casino Spa & Resort as part of a whirlwind 20-city summer tour you can blame on his stand-up roots and a good-old East Coast work ethic.

He’s a dreamer

Growing up in Pittsburgh taught Gardell to work, but moving to Florida as a child showed him how to dream. He told his grandmother he wanted to be a comedian when he was 9 and never looked back. It took two decades working at a warehouse and painting houses to get here, but it’s all worth it to see 1,500 faces laughing at a show where 150 used to sit. “I’d been the guest star guy forever,” Gardell says. “People would kind of recognize me, like, ‘Did I see you on TV, or did you fix my toilet?’”

He’s a little old-fashioned

Gardell believes in the Holy Trinity: George Carlin, Bill Cosby and Richard Pryor. He has his eyes on some young comedians, but he just doesn’t think it gets better than the best. His Twitter was made by the studio and features a headshot, no defining information and three tweets, all from one fateful day in 2011 wherein he watched an episode of his show online and was pretty excited about it. He doesn’t get the hype around documenting every breath — for him, real-life situations are the best inspiration for his stand-up act. “Nowadays, when I’m looking for something to write, I just start a fight with my wife,” Gardell jokes. “I’m a husband, a father, a friend and an employee, and that’s what I write about.”

He’s the bad cop

The man just can’t stay away from police officer blues. Before landing his role on “Mike & Molly,” he had a recurring cop role on popular sitcom “My Name is Earl.” While it doesn’t necessarily translate to free doughnuts at any hour of the day, it does mean his shows always draw precincts clamoring to salute their favorite good guy. But policing his young son requires him to play a very different kind of officer. “My wife’s the good cop, actually. I didn’t see that coming,” Gardell says.

He’s a big softy

Ask him when he started performing, and Gardell’s anything but fuzzy on the details. It was 1987. Dec. 28, 1987. He’s that devoted to his job, touring obsessively between filming seasons of his show. Stand-up is where he came from and what he can’t live without, but his show brings out the teddy bear inside. “I love it, man, because at the end of the day, it’s about two people who didn’t think they’d fall in love,” he says. But no matter how gooey he gets over his career, his most important audience is at home. “Right now, I like telling my son bad elementary school jokes. My favorite is, ‘why is six afraid of seven?’” Gardell asks with a smirk palpable through the phone. “Seven eight nine.”